The fight between the teachers union and education-reform interests for control of Denver schools is leading to one of the most expensive campaigns in district history, with more than $600,000 already donated in school-board races.

Campaign-finance reports filed Tuesday and fully released Wednesday indicate that union leaders have backed one slate of candidates for three seats on the board while reform interests have chosen another.

So far, the reformers have considerably out-raised and out-donated the union political-action committees.

The bulk of the contributions were reported by three candidates endorsed by the Democrats for Education Reform, a national political-action committee. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has endorsed two of these candidates.

Of those three, at-large candidate Happy Haynes raised $213,789; Anne Rowe, running in District 1, raised $176,320; and Jennifer Draper Carson, running for a seat in District 5, has raised $124,760.

The reporting period covers Oct. 28, 2010, to Oct. 6 of this year.

The money raised in what has otherwise been a quiet race dwarfs the amounts in the last election two years ago. At this same point in the 2009 race, Mary Seawell, who raised the most money in that campaign, had recorded $105,320 in contributions.

The largest contributors this year have backed the reform slate of candidates. Among the big donors are University of Colorado president Bruce Benson, who gave $10,000 each to Haynes, Rowe and Carson.

After he was named to his current job, Benson pledged not to become involved in partisan politics. He declined to comment about his donations Wednesday, saying he made the contributions as a private citizen. School-board and ballot initiatives are nonpartisan.

In 2007, he donated $20,000 to Theresa Peña and $15,000 to Arturo Jimenez because, he said at the time, “I care passionately and support what needs to be done.”

This time, he is backing Jimenez’s opponent, Carson, after Jimenez opposed some reform efforts from his current seat on the board.

The largest single contribution to the same three candidates was from the chief executive of the Denver Center for Performing Arts and former University of Denver chancellor Daniel Ritchie, who gave each $26,000.

Ritchie is out of the country and could not be reached for comment.

Henry Gordon, president of Strata Resources, donated $25,000 to each of the three candidates because he said he wanted to give them a chance to compete with union-backed candidates.

“The way the unions run things right now, I disagree with,” Gordon said. “We ought to have some choice. These three candidates support the same big reforms I do.”

In District 1, Rowe’s competitor, Emily Sirota — endorsed by the union — has raised $57,962, $22,500 of which came from the Denver Classroom Teachers Association’s small donor committee.

Sirota has a fundraiser scheduled today with Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, for whom she once worked.

In District 5, Jimenez raised $59,478 in the period to add to $2,939.23 from his previous filing for a total of $62,417.23.

Jimenez, who during his first campaign had no support from unions, now has $30,850 in contributions from various unions — including $24,000 from DCTA’s small donor committee.

The large sums of money have afforded candidates new methods to reach out.

Rowe’s campaign purchased customized yard signs and placed four of them at each of that district’s 19 schools welcoming staff and students back.

Rowe, Sirota and Haynes also have rented out office spaces to use as a place to gather volunteers.

Many of the single, large donations for Denver school-board candidates would not be permitted in other Colorado election campaigns under finance restrictions.

Amendment 27, passed in 2002, imposed campaign limits on every other state elected office — from district attorneys to University of Colorado regents — but not local school-board candidates.

In the 2010 legislative session — just after the last school-board campaigns — state Rep. Beth McCann introduced a bill to change that, but the bill met opposition from Republicans in the House.

“School-board races, especially in Denver, have become very polarizing,” McCann said. “It creates the potential for it to be about whoever can get the most money. It’s what we were trying to avoid.”

But money has proved no guarantee of success. In the last election in 2009, only one of Denver’s three best-funded candidates, Seawell, ultimately won.

Ballots for the upcoming election were mailed to Denver voters this week and must be returned by Nov. 1.

High-stakes politics

Funds raised for the Nov. 1 Denver Public Schools board election.

AT LARGE

Happy Haynes: $213,789

Frank Deserino: $16,790

Roger Kilgore: $8,464

Jacqueline Shumway: $2,033.97

John Daniel: $244

DISTRICT 1

Anne Bye Rowe: $176,320

Emily Sirota: $57,962

DISTRICT 5

Jennifer Draper Carson: $124,760

Arturo Jimenez: $62,417.23

This story has been corrected in this online archive. Originally donations made to Sirota and Jimenez from the Denver Classroom Teachers Association were attributed to the wrong committee. It was the small donor committee. Mayor Hancock has endorsed only two candidates in the school-board race – Happy Haynes and Anne Rowe. Also, University of Colorado president Bruce Benson promised CU regents he would not contribute to or raise money in any partisan election. School-board races and ballot initiatives are nonpartisan.

Yesenia Robles was a breaking news reporter for The Denver Post, working with the organization from 2010-2016. She covered education, crime and courts, and the northern suburbs. Raised in Denver, she graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder and is a native Spanish speaker.

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